Naomi Munakata
Naomi Munakata –a Japanese-born Brazilian choral conductor and academic teacher based in the city of São Paulo – died on 26 March 2020 due to Covid-19.
She was conductor of OSESP, the choir of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, from 1995 to 2013, and then principal conductor of Coral Paulistano Mário de Andrade at the Municipal Theatre. She was among the choral conductors in South America who "have contributed to the strengthening and stimulation of choral music", according to The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music.
Munakata was born in Hiroshima, and the family moved to São Paulo, Brazil, when she was age two. She received piano lessons from age four and began singing in a choir that her ...